Smartsheet Review - Features, Pricing & Deals

Smartsheet is a cloud-based work management platform that combines spreadsheet simplicity with robust project management capabilities. Its familiar interface makes it easy for teams to track tasks, manage workflows, and collaborate on projects in real-time.

At its core, the platform offers essential project management tools like Gantt charts, customizable dashboards, and automated workflows. Teams can view their work in multiple formats, including grid, card, and calendar views, while sharing updates and tracking progress through built-in communication features.

The software integrates smoothly with popular tools such as Microsoft Office 365, Google Workspace, and DocuSign. Its automation features help reduce manual work by streamlining repetitive tasks, while its reporting tools provide clear insights into project status and team performance.

Available in several tiers, from a basic free version to comprehensive enterprise plans, Smartsheet scales to meet different organizational needs. The platform serves everyone from small teams to large corporations, with pricing that starts at $9 per user per month for the Pro plan.

With its focus on security and compliance, Smartsheet maintains strict data protection standards while giving users full control over their information. This makes it suitable for businesses that need to maintain high security standards while managing their projects and workflows.

• Project Management: Create detailed project timelines using Gantt charts and dynamic views that help teams track tasks and allocate resources efficiently across multiple project perspectives.
• Real-Time Collaboration: Enable seamless team collaboration with simultaneous sheet editing, instant comments, direct @mentions, and integrated sharing capabilities that keep everyone connected and informed.
• Advanced Workflow Automation: Streamline repetitive tasks with powerful automation rules, conditional reminders, and smart workflows that reduce manual work and increase team productivity.
• Comprehensive Reporting: Generate interactive dashboards and real-time reports that combine data from multiple sheets, providing actionable insights through AI-powered analysis and customizable visualizations.
• Flexible Data Management: Collect structured data through customizable forms, integrate external data sources, and apply conditional formatting to highlight trends and focus on critical information.
• Seamless Integrations: Connect easily with popular tools like Microsoft Office 365, Google Workspace, and DocuSign, allowing smooth data transfer and enhanced workflow capabilities across platforms.
• Enterprise-Grade Security: Protect your data with robust security infrastructure, strict privacy standards, and comprehensive control mechanisms that ensure confidentiality and compliance.

• Free version allows a single user with up to two additional editors, ideal for personal projects and platform testing.
• Pro Plan at $9 per user monthly (annual billing) offers unlimited sheets, reports, dashboards, Gantt charts, pre-built automation rules, 20 GB attachment storage, and key integrations.
• Business Plan at $19 per user monthly (annual billing) includes Pro Plan features plus unlimited collaborators, unlimited automations, forms with conditional logic, document builder, and proofing capabilities.
• Enterprise Plan provides custom pricing with advanced features like custom welcome screens, no-code business apps, unlimited attachment storage, and DocuSign integration.
• Advanced Work Management Plan offers custom pricing with premium features including Control Center, Dynamic View, Data Shuttle, Salesforce and Jira connectors, and premium support.
• Support add-ons available for Business Plan: Standard support at $4 per user monthly, Professional support at $8 per user monthly.
• Pricing offers discounts for annual billing compared to monthly billing, with potential additional negotiated discounts for large-scale commitments.

While Smartsheet looks like a spreadsheet, it offers way more project management power than Excel. You'll get real-time collaboration where everyone sees updates instantly, built-in Gantt charts, and automated workflows that Excel can't match. Smartsheet also connects team members better with @mentions, comments, and file attachments right in your sheets. Excel is still great for complex calculations, but Smartsheet is built for managing work rather than just crunching numbers.

Smartsheet works best when you're online since it's cloud-based. The mobile app has some limited offline viewing capabilities, but you can't make changes or updates without an internet connection. Any work you need to do offline will have to wait until you're back online. If you often work in places with spotty internet, this is something to keep in mind before committing to Smartsheet as your main work tool.

Smartsheet works well for teams of all sizes. Small teams can start with the basic features and grow into more advanced tools as needed. The learning curve isn't too steep, especially if your team already knows how to use spreadsheets. Many small businesses and teams use Smartsheet for project tracking, client management, and team coordination. The price might be a factor for very small teams, but the productivity gains often make up for the cost.

Most people get comfortable with Smartsheet basics in about 1-2 weeks. If you've used spreadsheets before, you'll pick it up even faster. The interface is pretty straightforward, and there are lots of templates to help you get started. The more advanced features like automation rules and complex formulas might take a few more weeks to master. Smartsheet also offers free training videos and a help center that speeds up the learning process.

Yes, Smartsheet handles complex projects with dependencies quite well. You can create task dependencies in Gantt view by simply dragging lines between tasks. When you move a task, all dependent tasks will shift automatically. You can set up predecessor/successor relationships and create critical path highlighting. For very large or complex programs, you might need to use the Business or Enterprise plan to get the most advanced project management features, but the core dependency tracking works on all paid plans.